11/05/09 How Did It Happen? Tesei sends Lavery packing for good

Here Is A Look Back At This Years Campgain .......

October 30, 2009 - Controversial Lavery mailer incites verbal smackdownTo suggest that Jonathan Asch was a "pal" of Tesei's, is a complete falsehood, representatives of the First Selectman's Coastal Resources Advisory Committee said during a news conference at Town Hall called for purpose of rebuking Lavery, who is currently a selectman.

October 30, 2009 - For this first selectman -- integrity matters"Recently, my opponent in the race for first selectman distributed townwide mailers which make blatantly false claims regarding actions of my administration. Candidates for public office should take responsibility for the accuracy of the information delivered to the public."

October 29, 2009 - Claims in controversial Lavery campaign mailer cast in doubt"Certainly, it's not reflective of the truth," Tesei said. "To make such statements so irresponsibly, I think, calls into question one's judgment."

October 24, 2009 - Tesei touts record of accomplishment in re-election bid for town's highest office"I can verify and quantify what I do. I don't just use platitudes," said Tesei, 40, a fifth-generation town resident who is married with two small children.

October 23, 2009 - Greenwich woman celebrates 105th birthdayFirst Selectman Peter Tesei read a proclamation, and as he bent over to kiss Hartell on the cheek after handing her a bouquet of yellow roses...

October 14, 2009 - Election '09: Tesei, Lavery show dueling visionsFirst Selectman Peter Tesei said that the big challenge for a first selectman is providing for services that residents have come to expect while keeping property tax rates moderate and predictable.

October 13, 2009 - Greenwich selectmen candidates go back to school"I do believe that having a low student-to-teacher ratio is imperative to fostering education," Tesei said. "You only have one shot at an education."

October 7, 2009 - Paying tribute: YWCA remembers victims of violenceFirst Selectman Peter Tesei proclaimed October Domestic Violence Month and honored the YWCA and the Greenwich Police Department.

October 3, 2009 - Lavery, Tesei tout themselves as strong allies of public school students, parentsTesei, appearing at a Greenwich PTAC Council debate at Town Hall, said he has used his position as first selectman as a bully pulpit to fix problems such as the Hamilton Avenue School reconstruction debacle.

October 2, 2009 - All 4 selectmen candidates oppose Byram housing expansion"There's no doubt that people do not want it there," First Selectman Peter Tesei said of a Greenwich Housing Authority plan to create new senior housing units at McKinney Terrace. "I don't think it's the right area of town for our seniors."

Radio station to air candidate debateWGCH 1490 AM will air a live candidates debate between First Selectman Peter Tesei and his opponent Monday, Oct. 5, from 9 to 10 a.m.

September 17, 2009 - Tesei Says he is happy to participate in any well-structured and impartial forum"I have no qualms about debating anybody in that context."

The 78th Annual Cos Cob Republican Clambake will be held this Sunday, September 20th, at Greenwich Point from 1:00PM to 4:00PM

August 27, 2009 - Ribbon cutting for police headquarters draws crowd

August 10, 2009 - Two new officers join Greenwich police

August 06, 2009 - Tax deferral on horizon?

August 01, 2009 - First Selectman Peter Tesei shows the original BET members during the celebration of the BET's 100th aniversary

July 24, 2009 - Republicans choose slate, tap vice chairman for selectman

June 25, 2009 - Tesei kicks off re-election bid

June 4, 2009 - Planning for fall, candidate choices begin to take shape

==================================
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12/10/08 Greenwich Time News Links For Wednesday

Boneheaded Jurist Helps The Greenwich YMCA

Discriminate Against The Handicapped

Shame, Shame, Shame On

Judge Taggert Adams

Who Turns His Back On The Crippled Of Greenwich

At Stamford Superior Court

Judge Taggert Is Going To Look Like Even More Of A Fool When The Perpetually Mismanaged YMCA Building Project Fails To Complete The Ramp In June Of 2009

YMCA wins handicapped-access case

Breaking News

By Meredith Blake/Staff Writer

Posted: 12/10/2008 12:28:34 PM EST

A State Superior Court Judge today denied a Greenwich man's request for an injunction to force the Greenwich Family YMCA to put in a temporary ramp to provide wheelchair access.

The Y reasonably showed that it was in the process of trying to get rid of barriers to provide access for all through their $40 million renovation and expansion project, a standard established under the Americans with Disabilities Act, said Judge Taggert Adams in Stamford Superior Court.

The Y, which is considered a public entity, is required to provide access to individuals with disabilities, and are in the process of making "reasonable modifications" to their facility through their construction to provide it, he said.

Providing a temporary ramp is "not readily achievable," and would put an undue burden on the YMCA, he said.

Luis Gonzalez-Bunster, who is in a wheelchair, filed a request on Nov. 13 for an immediate injunction ordering the Y to provide temporary access to the new addition that includes a new aquatics center with an Olympic-size pool. The new addition is just one part of renovation and expansion of the 96-year-old building, which has never been wheelchair accessible.

Full Story

MORE GRENWICH TIME NEWS LINKS:

Muslims gather to observe Eid al-Adha

Sounds of prayer filled the Hilton-Stamford Hotel ballroom Tuesday morning, as some 500 members of the Stamford Islamic Center observed one the faith's most important holidays, Eid al-Adha.

Full Story

RTM debates cutting projects

By Neil Vigdor/Staff Writer
Posted: 12/10/2008 02:31:48 AM EST

With the town laboring to close a projected $10.5 million budget gap, a debate is raging among elected officials whether to put the brakes on an estimated $49.2 million in capital projects for which the money has been appropriated but not yet spent.

Joan Caldwell, the second-highest-ranking leader of the Representative Town Meeting and chairman of legislative body's District 10/Northwest delegation, said it only makes sense to take a second look at projects still in the planning stage......

.....Members of Caldwell's RTM delegation unsuccessfully proposed a sense-of-the-meeting resolution Monday night to the full legislative body that would have placed a 90-day moratorium on all capital projects for which contracts have yet to be negotiated.....

.....First Selectman Peter Tesei said all options are on the table in the current economic climate.
"We are certainly looking at capital projects that we can pare back or not do so we can focus on completing the ones that are already in progress," Tesei said.

Among the projects for which funds have been appropriated but not spent are $1.1 million for an evaluation of the Grass Island municipal wastewater treatment plant; $1 million for an imaging and archiving system at Town Hall, $2.7 million toward converting the former Cos Cob Power Plant site into a waterfront park; $238,000 for a new police boat; and $500,000 for a master plan for the town's transfer station.

"That half-million might pay some salaries later in the year if we have a messy situation," Caldwell said of the money for the transfer station master plan.

Another major project on the drawing board that might have been affected by such a moratorium is the renovation of the Greenwich High School auditorium and music instruction rooms, for which the town has appropriated about $2.1 million this year for architectural and engineering work.

Bob Brady, who is a member of the project's building committee, said the town is close to reaching contracts with an architect and a construction manager after six-and-a-half months of work.

"We would hate to have to redo that and start all over," said Brady, who is also an RTM member and chairman of its Education Committee.

Some leaders have questioned the urgency to do the project, for which about $23.1 million has been placed in the 2010-11 budget. .....

.....According to preliminary budget documents prepared for the BET, the town needs to shed about $10.5 million in spending from the projected $364 million budget to avoid an estimated 7.4 percent spike in property taxes for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

In previous years, the budgetary gap has been about $5 million, according to town officials, who are predicting a $7 million shortfall in revenues from tax receipts, building permits issued and bank interest......

Full Story

Slay suspect sentto mental hospital

A 75-year-old Pemberwick man accused of killing his former daughter-in-law was ordered sent to a state mental facility Tuesday for treatment to restore his competency to stand trial.

At a hearing in state Superior Court in Stamford, a frail Gerardo Lombardi listened as a licensed clinical social worker said the defendant did not comprehend the case against him.

"It was determined that he was unable to understand the proceedings against him and he was unable to assist in his defense," said social worker Melissa McShane......

.....Lombardi is accused of shooting and stabbing Alison McKnight Lombardi in the backyard of 36 Nicholas Ave., the property next to his home, Sept. 4. Police believe the incident stemmed from a property dispute. ......

......Public Defender Howard Ehring told the judge it would be difficult to proceed with a probable cause hearing and eventual trial given Lomardi's current mental status.

Ferencek did not contest the evaluation report and felt treatment was a good idea if it could restore Lombardi's competence to stand trial.

"I would agree that based on the report he is not competent," Ferencek said.....

....Comerford committed Lombardi for 60 days of treatment at the Whiting Forensic Institute in Middletown.

The Whiting Forensic Institute is part of a broader Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital, a state mental hospital. ....

Full Story

Frantz oversees new service to Amsterdam

By Neil Vigdor/Staff Writer
Posted: 12/10/2008 02:31:18 AM EST

With less than a month remaining in his tenure as chairman of Bradley International Airport, state Senator-elect L. Scott Frantz of Greenwich was on cloud nine Wednesday with the announcement that Delta Air Lines subsidiary Northwest Airlines would resume nonstop service from Hartford to Amsterdam.....

....Frantz, 48, who was elected last month to fill the 36th District Senate seat of retiring fellow Republican William Nickerson, said Delta's decision to bring the flight back shows confidence that Bradley is a viable market for the airline industry. ...

....Frantz said he and other business and political leaders have been striving for several months to get the transatlantic flights to return and even promised $800,000 in incentives to Delta to help market the new route.

In addition, the state Department of Transportation sweetened the pot with $325,000 in landing fee and rent reductions to the airline, according to Frantz.....

Full Story

Police blotter

Godfrey Polistina, 57, of 1363 King St., was arrested and charged with third-degree assault and disorderly conduct Monday night after a dispute at his home, police said.

Polistina was released on a $10,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Tuesday

*******************************************

Milton DeLavera, 48, of 50 South Main St., was arrested and charged with sixth-degree larceny Monday evening at Stop & Shop, 161 West Putnam Ave., police said.

A store manager reported seeing DeLavera stuff numerous store items into his jacket and pant legs, then leave the store, police said. Police then apprehended DeLavera.

DeLavera was released on a $200 bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Dec. 23.

*******************************************

William McGoldrick, 59, of 63 Indian Harbor Drive, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct Saturday evening following a tenant-landlord dispute, police said.

McGoldrick was released on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Monday.

*******************************************

Charles Smith, 54, of 415 High St., Milford, was arrested and charged with driving while under the influence Thursday, police said.

Smith, a Greenwich postal worker, was found to be intoxicated in a Greenwich Post Office parking lot at 29 Valley Drive, police said.

Smith was operating a postal vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, according to the police report. Smith had bloodshot eyes and a strong odor of alcohol, police said.

He failed a series of field sobriety tests at the scene, according to police.

Smith was released on a $250 bond and was released to a family member, police said.

He is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Friday.

******************************************

Ben Mosley III, 19, of 5 Jamroga Lane, Stamford, was arrested Friday night and charged with second-degree failure to appear, police said.

Mosley turned himself in to police on an outstanding arrest warrant relating to an August arrest in which he was charged with possession of marijuana less than four ounces, police said.

Mosley was released on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Stamford on Friday.

'Sense of urgency' needed

By Colin Gustafson/Staff Writer
Posted: 12/10/2008 02:31:50 AM EST

Calling for a "sense of urgency," school officials are ramping up pressure on Hamilton Avenue School's building committee to secure the necessary approvals for occupancy for the reconstructed school building this month.

At a meeting in the Havemeyer Building Tuesday, Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg asked committee members to give her daily updates on their progress toward achieving a temporary certificate of occupancy. .....

.....However, there are still a few unresolved facilities issues - including a need for more exhaust fans in bathrooms and additional emergency lights - that must be addressed before town building officials will grant the certificate, building committee members said......

....Asked by Sternberg to give a realistic time-frame for receiving the certificate, building committee member Thomas Heagney said it would likely arrive next Thursday or Friday, Dec. 18 or 19, "at the latest,"......

.....The project, which was initially slated to span 18 months when work began in April 2005, has repeatedly missed deadlines, recently when builders failed to finish work in time for an Aug. 27 re-opening; then again when ventilation problems were not resolved by Columbus Day.

School officials had most recently hoped to have a certificate for the school by Dec. 5, so that the environmental testing and move-in process could move forward without having to deal with any outstanding facilities issues.

To date, however, several problems remain unresolved.

For one, while new exhaust fans have been installed in some bathrooms to correct air flow problems, other restrooms facilities have not yet received the equipment upgrade, which inspectors say is a prerequisite for the certificate.

In addition, emergency lights still must be installed on the campus, committee members said, and modifications to the boiler room's flue piping system need to be approved in order for the building to get the certificate.....

Full Story

Greenwich Academy squash poised to win another national title
When the Greenwich Academy squash team takes to the court today for its first match of the season at Convent of the Sacred Heart, it will begin another long journey to stake its claim once again as the best squash program in the United States.

Full Story

'We Were Late': Panelists take hard look at today's numbers
Although the region was one of the last in the nation to sink into a recession, it probably will be the last to emerge as the economy improves.

Full Story

Something to take your mind off the cold
Yes, baby, it's been cold outside. Especially if you're one of those who signed up for a fixed-price heating oil contract at $4.

Full Story

The "LOCAL" Hard Hitting Editorial From The Greenwich Time Editors: "Hard times for a state cultural icon"

It's not easy asking for money ata time like this. Unemployment is up and government bailouts are on many industries' wish lists.

The Mark Twain House & Museum, honoring perhaps Connecticut's most famous resident, has seen brighter days. Facing a financial crisis created by adding a $19.5 million visitors center, the museum needed a recent $500,000 gift from the Annenberg Foundation to stay out of bankruptcy, and is not yet in the clear ...... BLAH .....BLAH ..... BLAH ..... BLAH ..... BLAH ..... BLAH ..... BLAH ...... BLAH ....... BLAH ......

Arts center proposal is too good to pass up

To the editor:

Two years ago, when I had recently moved to Greenwich and begun to establish new roots for Quill Entertainment, a history-musicals nonprofit, Bea Crumbine showed me the Havemeyer Building and shared her and the Greenwich Center for the Arts board's exciting ideas about restoring it as a vibrant community arts center.

As a theater professional for some 30-plus years, I was thrilled to visit the theater space and imagine it filled with laughter, song, dance and applause. In addition, there would be classrooms and galleries - it seemed too good to be true. I immediately signed up Quill Entertainment as a potential tenant.

Alas, it seems it was too good to be true - and all for want of a lease and the willingness of the Board of Education to move. Office space can be found, but where in Greenwich can we find a pre-existing theater? In a beautiful, historic building? Right in the heart of town? With millions of dollars from the private sector already committed?

It boggles the mind to think our elected officials can be so short-sighted as to let this opportunity pass.

One article stated that the school board members wanted the priority to be on "projects impacting children's education." Surely, these members do not think education takes place only in the classroom. Surely, after numerous studies detailed the positive economic impact of the arts on communities, the board members recognize the "win-win-win" for the town.

Surely, after even more studies underscored the importance of the arts in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our children, the members can address other needs without abandoning this unique opportunity for important social gain. Surely . . .

As an artist, I am sick at this decision. As a proud member of the community, I am a little bit ashamed of it. I urge the members of the school board and the Representative Town Meeting to sit down with the GCA and move this project forward.

Greenwich deserves a center for the arts. Let us no longer have to apologize for lacking one.

Granville Burgess
Greenwich

The writer is chief executive officer of Quill Entertainment Co.

==============================================

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03/29/08 - Good News! - Since When Is A Tax Increase Good News For The Single Family Home Owners Of Greenwich?

It's Time To Once Again To Beat The Press:

Superintendent Betty Sternberg spins it. Communications Director Kim Eves delivers it and of coarse, the Greenwich Citizen runs it through the spell checker before publishing it.

Objective Reporting Paragraph Of The Day:

"On a parallel track over at the Board of Education in the Havemeyer building on Greenwich Avenue, the school budget was shaping up for months and then gone over with a fine-toothed comb. And, after all those processes, the final product was fine-tuned."

This Is Complacent Reporting At It's Worse:

And there is not one word in the story about unnecessary and high expenses that were caused by Betty "You Can Trust Me" Sternberg's incompetent screw ups.

Nothing about how failed school administrators increased the single family home owners tax bill by KNOWINGLY allowing the contaminated modular classrooms to fester for over one year.

Nothing about the tax ramifications of the unnecessary diaspora of 400 small school children.

It looks like the Greenwich Citizen is totally unaware of the tax consequences of the Hamilton Avenue School cover up has on this record-breaking $371 million budget.

Headline:

Tax Hike for Fiscal '09 Won't Top BET's 3.5% Goal

Reporter:

By PATRICIA McCORMACK

Story:

Good news.

Your property tax bill for fiscal '09 will go up no more than an estimated 3.5 percent, meeting a goal set by the Town of Greenwich's Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET)....

...On a parallel track over at the Board of Education in the Havemeyer building on Greenwich Avenue, the school budget was shaping up for months and then gone over with a fine-toothed comb. And, after all those processes, the final product was fine-tuned...

================================================

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03/19/08 - Peter Tesei said having the committee in place before the budget vote will help the project because the RTM will know who is overseeing it

First The Good News....

Selectmen give OK Greenwich High auditorium committee gets approval
Greenwich Post - Greenwich,CT

The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved Wednesday morning the creation of a building committee to oversee the renovation of Greenwich High School’s .

he committee so far includes eight voting members, including Board of Education Vice Chairman Leslie Moriarty and Board of Estimate and Taxation member William Kelly, a former school board member and supporter of the project. Genny Krob, co-president of the Friends of High School Performing Arts group and one of the leading advocates for the project, is also a voting member, along with GHS PTA co-president Leslie Cooper, Representative Town Meeting Education Committee Chairman Robert Bray, local engineer Joseph Ross, attorney Frank Napolitano and contractor Steven LoParco, also a former Board of Education member.

The creation of the committee is seen as a major step for the project before the RTM considers the 2008-09 municipal budget in May. The budget includes $2 million for architecture and engineering work related to the project, which had a feasibility study done this past year. Construction is tentatively set to start in 2009-10.

First Selectman Peter Tesei said having the committee in place before the budget vote will help the project because now the RTM will know who is overseeing it.

Having a set committee also allows the project to officially move forward.....

Now The Bad News...

Betty Sternberg Is Involved

... The committee contains two non voting, ex-officio members — Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg and Mr. Tesei.

MORE SCHOOL NEWS...

03/19/08 - Stop Punishing The Children - If The BET Should Save Money By Getting Rid Of Betty Sternberg And Her Failed Administrators

03/19/08 - May God Bless The Children Of Hamilton Avenue School Who Never Get To Compete On A Level Playing Field.

03/19/08 - "I can tell from the questions that were given to me that you're very curious about me," Charles Smith, 50, of Stamford

---

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03/19/08 - Stop Punishing The Children - If The BET Should Save Money By Getting Rid Of Betty Sternberg And Her Failed Administrators

PTA:Don't slash funds

By Neil Vigdor
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

The head of the Greenwich PTA Council urged the Board of Estimate and Taxation last night to refrain from cutting the education budget to make up for the funds lost to the forced relocation of Hamilton Avenue School students because of mold.

During an hour-long public hearing on the proposed $373 million town budget, PTA Council President Julie Faryniarz told finance board members that she opposed any move that would diminish the quality of the education received by students in the district....

... Mold was discovered late last month in the modular classrooms housing Hamilton Avenue School students while their own building -- one that had similar problems in the past -- is renovated. The town was forced to move the students to six other schools and incurred undetermined expenses from the relocation. The bill could grow as the town decides what to do with Glenville School students, who were supposed to occupy the modular units next while their building is renovated.

While the town is expected to appropriate money from its contingency fund to pay for the expenses, BET members have been signaling that they could look for budget savings from the schools....

... Robert Tuthill, who is chairman of District 3/Chickahominy RTM delegation, said during the hearing that he had concerns about the proposed town budget being responsive to the crisis. If it is not, he said, the RTM could be forced to make significant changes during its May vote on the town budget.

"Certainly, Hamilton Avenue and Glenville need to be taken care of," Tuthill said...

Please Read....

03/13/08 - Just How Much Are The Taxpayers Of Greenwich Paying Superintendent Betty Sternberg And Her Failed Administrators To Lie To The Public?

========================================

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A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.
~Albert Camus

03/18/08 - "It's great," Eddie Collins told the Greenwich Time about the event. "I marched in it last year."

Amelia Bruno claps in time to bagpipe music at the St. Patrick’s Day celebration yesterday at the Nathaniel Witherell.
(Helen Neafsey/Greenwich Time Staff photo)

Green is the theme for Witherell residents

By Hoa Nguyen
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

Four grand marshals, a line of Irish bagpipers, cups of green ginger ale, plates of buttered Irish soda bread and plenty of twinkling eyes and smiling faces were on hand for yesterday's annual St. Patrick's Day parade at The Nathaniel Witherell.

People, wheelchairs and walkers packed both sides of the parade route as bagpipers made their way into the nursing home's social hall. In the front of the room were the grand marshals, Alice and Eddie Collins, Kathy Kavanagh and Mary McHugh, who also are the four oldest Irish residents at the nursing home....

MORE NEWS LINKS FROM THE GREENWICH TIME:

BET cuts ties with Bear Stearns

Looking to avoid getting egg on its face, the town removed Bear Stearns Cos. yesterday from a proposed list of financial institutions authorized to manage municipal tax receipts.

Police following leads in exposure case

Police are tracking leads hoping to catch a man who reportedly exposed himself to three teenage girls Saturday afternoon on Sound Beach Avenue.

Middle ground elusive at Stanwich School

Charlie Andruss was once one of the more vocal critics of Stanwich School's proposed $100 million new campus, but now he's taking a different stance.

Safe call Civilians prepare to become dispatchers

The town hopes to begin training civilian dispatchers in the next month so firefighters can be freed up to respond to emergency calls.

========================================

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03/13/08 - Just How Much Are The Taxpayers Of Greenwich Paying Superintendent Betty Sternberg And Her Failed Administrators To Lie To The Public?

Betty "Pinocchio" Sternberg

HEADLINE:

An environmental consultant hired by the school district has said the ceiling of one of the classrooms affected by the roof leaks had mold growth.

LIE OF THE DAY:

Sternberg and other officials said design and construction flaws rather than maintenance shortcomings caused the mold problems at the modulars. They said roof leaks reported months earlier at the modulars were properly addressed and not connected to the mold found inside the walls and in the roof eaves.

STORY:

Schools didn't follow mold policy

By Hoa Nguyen
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

Five years ago, when mold problems began surfacing at the old Hamilton Avenue School and other buildings, school district officials implemented a program to help identify and prevent similar problems from occurring in the future.

But now they admit the program was not uniformly put into practice across the district....

Greenwich Roundup says.... But, school officials did identify the mold in the modular classrooms over one year ago. The problem is that they hid the mold from Glenville and Hamilton Avenue School parents.

Please read....

03/09/08 - Town Employees: Sternberg's Crew Knew - Mold Covered Tiles Replaced Over One Year Ago.

Soon school district Officials will admit they knew about the mold in the contaminated modular classrooms over one year ago. After that school district officials will admit that they replaced molded cieling tiles at the contaminated modular classroom. Then the school district officials will admit they hid the contamination from Glenville and Hamilton Avenue parents.

.... "Everyone was trained," Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg said of the program called Tools for Schools. "It was variably implemented from school to school."....

Greenwich Roundup says...... Obviously. But didn't Superintendent Betty Sternberg say, "I'll hold the staff accountable." Please read....

03/05/08 - The Joke Of The Day - "I'll hold the staff accountable," Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg promised. - Yeah Right.

... Tools for Schools is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program designed to raise awareness about air quality issues, including assembling committees of teachers, administrators, parents and custodians who work together to identify early indicators of mold and other problems.

School officials came under fire on Tuesday night from the Board of Estimate and Taxation Budget Committee, which questioned why mold problems discovered at the Hamilton Avenue School modular buildings were identified only a couple of weeks ago. They should have been more aggressive in scrutinizing possible mold situations, committee members said, because it was mold that forced the rebuilding of the old Hamilton Avenue School and the purchase of the $3 million modular buildings several years ago.....

Greenwich Roundup says.... The Board of Estimate and Taxation has a long history of suffering incompetent school district fools who are destroying the public schools and increasing the taxes on the single family home owner.

.... "I was frankly surprised," BET member Robert Stone said yesterday. "This is a lesson that clearly should have been learned four years ago."....

Greenwich Roundup says.... Why is Robert Stone "frankly surprised". Was he awake at the BET meetings when school district officials have repeatedly came asking for more and more tax money to pay for all the screw ups at Hamilton Avenue School.

.... Stone is calling on the district to implement a program to visually inspect classrooms and school space on a regular basis to ensure potential problems are caught early....

Greenwich Roundup says.... "Good Job Bob"

... BET members said that because taxpayers are going to have to shoulder the cost associated with this latest Hamilton Avenue School mold problem, the district must have a better prevention plan...

Greenwich Roupup says... If Betty Sternberg and her failed school administrators don't come clean the school district is going to need one hell of a litigation plan.

Eventually, this Board Of Education cover up is going to be exposed, when failed school administrators, architects, contractors, engineers and testing companies start getting sued by parents whose children were allowed to sit in a contaminated modular classroom for over one year.

A lot of school administrators and others knew about the contamination for more than a year.

Now these architects, contractors, engineers and testing companies had better make sure that Hamilton Avenue parents are getting full disclosure or they may find their butts in court face claims of substantial liability.

... "This is going to be something that we're going to have to prevent going forward," said Michael Mason, head of the BET budget committee....

JOKE OF THE DAY:

"People walked away with a general sense that progress is being made," said Mike Bodson, the Board of Education liaison for the school's building committee, as he spoke about a Hamilton Avenue School Building Tour led by the ever so efficient contractor, Worth Construction.

Shame on



Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.
- President Ronald Regan

02/29/08 - News Reports From The Greenwich Time

Blue Sky Animation is pulling out of White Plains New York and to Connecticut, where the tax breaks are as high as a Horton the elephant's eye.

Benefits of deal remain unclear

By Brian Lockhart
Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

State lawmakers are questioning the Blue Sky deal following a report in Greenwich Time and The Advocate yesterday that the General Assembly unknowingly approved $15 million worth of annual digital animation tax credits tailored for Blue Sky Studios last year.

Additional details emerged yesterday about the state's behind-the-scenes bid to lure the renowned digital animator and its 300 employees from New York to Greenwich with tens of millions in film tax credits. It remains unclear, though, how thoroughly the state's effort to woo Blue Sky has been analyzed, and if it will pay off.

Jim Watson, spokesman for the state Department of Economic and Community Development, said the examination by his department, which is providing Blue Sky an $8 million low-interest loan, cannot be released because it involves confidential, proprietary information.

House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, has promised the company $10 million more in tax breaks. Many lawmakers this week said they thought last year they were voting on a generic bill creating a maximum, annual, transferable tax credit of $15 million to be split among digital animation studios with 200 or more full-time employees.

"In budget negotiations (the discussion) was always in terms of the entire film industry," House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said yesterday. "Never was an individual company mentioned, ever."

Leap Year birthdays finally get a chance to celebrate
BEING A LEAP YEAR baby has helped Anthony Gioffre stay young.

Camillo vies to replace Powers
The chairman of the Republican Town Committee seemed surprised that no one had questions for Fred Camillo Wednesday night when the town native announced he would make a bid for a state House of Representatives seat.

Town to rejoin lobbying group
Going against his predecessor's view that it is a waste of taxpayer money, First Selectman Peter Tesei wants the town to rejoin the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

Teachers slam BET on day care
Teachers at last night's Board of Education meeting bemoaned this week's decision by the Board of Estimate and Taxation to turn down the board's request to operate a child-care center for children of teachers.

Luxury home developers make record land donation
STAMFORD - The Stamford Land Conservation Trust has received 25 acres of land in North Stamford, the largest single tract donated to the trust, representatives said.

Pioneers, civil rights leaders parade at Hart Magnet
STAMFORD - Daniel Boone carried a wooden rifle around Hart Magnet Elementary School yesterday, Wilbur Wright flew a cardboard plane and Neil Armstrong wore a spacesuit.

NCC settles sexual assault suit for $765K
NORWALK - Norwalk Community College has settled a federal lawsuit with a student who claimed a male professor sexually assaulted her four years ago.

02/20/08 - News Reports From Greenwich Time

Port Chester Mayor Dennis Pilla

Tesei meets Port Chester counterpart
Their constituencies couldn't be more different.

Flag day Football league prepares church for King film
Stephaugn Frazer and other teenagers rolled new coats of white paint on the ceilings and walls of the basement at Bethel AME Church in Greenwich, where they gave up a day of their school vacation to spruce up the parish's Lake Avenue building.

Tesei wants police probe
First Selectman Peter Tesei is calling for a police investigation of a possible scam involving the production of counterfeit beach cards, parking stickers and marina permits.

Honulik: Promotion, damages should be honored
Countering the town's legal assertion it is free to promote whomever it pleases, a Green-wich policeman asked the Connecticut Supreme Court yesterday to uphold a court decision this fall ordering his promotion to captain with back pay and damages.

BET approves money for nor'easter repairs
Nearly a year after an April nor'easter ripped through Green-wich, town officials said they are ready to start repairs on bridges, parks and other infrastructure damaged by that storm.

02/07/08 - School Parents Are Having To Suffer Incompetent School Administration Fools

Children imitate putting a Dunce Cap on
failed school administrators and construction managers.

When is the never ending fiasco of the
Hamilton Avenue school contruction project going to come to an end.

Everyone knows that Hamilton Avenue School is not going to be finished in for use in the fall.

Hamilton Avenue children are going to be forced to spend yet another year in the leaky modular classrooms.

School Administrators have allowed this school construction project to go from bad to worse to a totally incompetent failure.

Day after day Hamilton Avenue parents are forced to wait for a school that is way behind schedule and has suffered one design flaw after another.

Greenwich taxpayers are repeatedly forced to pay through the nose for this hopelessly over budget school project.

This school construction management disaster was voted an additional half a million dollars by the BET and the RTM last year.

The school administrators promised that this would fix Hamilton Avenue School once and for all and the school would soon open.

Last month, Greenwich taxpayers forced to shell out another half a million bucks or the failed construction project will come to a "grinding halt."

Hello, the failed Hamilton Avenue School appears to already at a halt.

Has anyone seen any substaintial progress at the construction site?

Once again, Betty Sternberg, the Greenwich Superintendent and her horde of incompetent administrators, will most likely continue lying to the taxpayers of Greenwich and promise that there will be no further delays.

Betty's "Everything Is Under Control" speeches are beginning to sound like finger nails on a chalk board.

Does anyone think that the very high paid Sternberg
have any credibility what-so-ever?

Almost everyone is starting recognize that Sternberg's has a pitiful record of dismal failure and non-accomplishment.

Unfortunately, Hamilton Avenue Scholl will continue to be a hideous boondoggle, that will be followed by another hideous boondoggle at Glenville School.

February 17, 2003 - One less gardener will rake the leaves in local parks this fall. Will anyone notice?

Officials: Budget cuts won't hurt public

By Neil Vigdor
Staff Writer

One less gardener will rake the leaves in local parks this fall.

Will anyone notice?

Probably not, according to the scores of municipal officials who last week declared that strict belt-tightening guidelines established by the town's finance board would result in negligible reductions to the services their departments provide.

Those same department heads boasted they were able to limit their budget increases to the Board of Estimate and Taxation's desired threshold of 3 percent to 4 percent largely without consolidating or eliminating vacant positions as the finance board recommended.

But asked if the departments he oversees had received too much money in sunnier economic times given their response to current spending limits, First Selectman Richard Bergstresser rushed to the defense of his immediate subordinates.

The first-term Democrat claimed municipal department heads made substantial cuts to their budgets in areas that do not impact the public.

"Internally they will suffer, but they aren't going to do it at the expense of services to the citizens," Bergstresser said, citing the Police Department as an area where administrators are making cuts. He serves as police commissioner by virtue of his post as first selectman.

By reorganizing shifts and the deployment of officers, Bergstresser said, department officials will reduce overtime expenses and the additional costs associated with part-time employees.

While most municipal department heads appeared unwilling to lay off employees to achieve savings, they agreed to maintain the same spending levels on supplies as this year.

In the past, most departments raised spending in these areas to account for inflation. Facing a projected revenue shortfall of $1 million to $2 million in the town's $260 million-plus budget, department heads are now being urged to be more judicious in using supplies such as salt for icy roads and services such as the hiring of outside counsel to defend the town against lawsuits.

"Another example would be to say, 'Don't make as many copies,' " said James Lash, chairman of the finance board's Budget Committee. "You could have some (personal computers) that you might have replaced this year that you put off until next year."

In the town's Law Department, attorneys typically rely on an Internet-based legal research service that charges on a usage basis. Town Attorney John Wetmore speculated that his department will have less leeway to exceed its budget for that service given the current economic climate.

"We have to live within that budget," said Wetmore, whose $1.45 million overall budget request is 2.1 percent higher than last year's due mostly to salary increases.

However, Wetmore refuses to pare down salary allocations through a hiring freeze or consolidation of vacant positions in his department of 13 employees. Current staffing levels are just enough for his department to get by with its work, he said.

"The thought of reducing my staff didn't enter my mind, and hopefully it wouldn't enter the BET's mind," Wetmore said.

The BET has the power to reduce departments' budgets, and except in the case of the schools, dictate which areas will be cut.

To control spending on supplies and services, Wetmore said his department would hire outside counsel in few circumstances. He estimated that his department currently has no more than 10 cases pending with outside counsel.

The heads of the town's fleet, public works and parks departments echoed many of Wetmore's opinions regarding budgets, with many of them describing their operations as "bare bones" to begin with.

Parks Director Joseph Siciliano agreed to eliminate a vacant gardener's position from his 143-person operation to help cooperate with the finance board's guidelines. The position paid $39,219 per year plus $11,766 in benefits.

"I was making a sacrifice," said Siciliano, who plans to reassign his remaining employees to offset the elimination. "It is our goal not to have the public recognize these changes."

While municipal department heads were resolute about not allowing their downsizing to affect the public, elected officials were equally optimistic that services would be uninterrupted.

"I don't think the general public is going to get any less, and if they do, you'll hear them, believe me," said Sam Romeo, chairman of the Representative Town Meeting District 12 delegation.

The loudest public outcry over potential budget cuts came last week from parents of public school students and educators. They rebuked the finance board's budget committee after its chairman said he was contemplating an additional $500,000 reduction of the schools' $98.7 million budget request.

Several key members of the town's finance board sought to calm parents' fears that additional cuts would lead to layoffs and burgeoning class sizes.

"You're talking about positions being reduced as they come open because of retirement or normal movement," said Lash, who did not address how class size would be controlled.

Budget officials also were hopeful that a revenue shortfall, once projected to be $10 million, would be reduced to $1 million or $2 million and result in less cuts.

"Quite frankly, I'm very optimistic," BET Chairman Peter Tesei said.

Helping the town's overall fiscal situation is a $1 million surplus from the schools' current budget, which the town deposited into its $11 million to $12 million fund balance, finance board members said. The town also may not have to contribute as much to its pension fund as once thought, finance officials said, adding that department heads' budgets cuts are helping the overall outlook.

Tesei went on to suggest that municipal departments used the additional bounty from sunnier economic times to develop programs that streamlined their operations. He cited a townwide accounting system as an example.

But Tesei also conceded the possibility that municipal budgets had been too fat.

"You could very well arrive at that assumption based on those statements you are receiving," he said.